Everything changes
by Elephant Travels
Summary: Soraya lived a perfectly ordinary life in London, despite the whole vampires exist thing, that is until one day everything changes and she suddenly finds herself living in Bon Temps, up to her, apparently very tempting, neck in vampires and dealing with a load of 'gifts' she seems to have developed and has no idea how to control. Brilliant. Let the adventures begin!
1. Chapter 1

Right so I know I should be working on the next chapters of several of my other stories but I've been suffering from a little writers block and so somehow found myself working on this new story instead. Let me know if you are enjoying it!

Okay so I realise that running away to practically the other side of the world is extreme… even for me its extreme but I was here now so I would just have to cope with it and get on with life. Let me explain a little, as a twenty eight year old teacher from London with a fiancé and a house I was pretty sure life was set. Everything was perfect, okay not perfect exactly but everything was going pretty well for me. I had a successful career, money in my own right, a man who I loved, and who loved me back and I was on the property ladder at last. So why you ask am I here, in Bon Temps, Louisiana? Well that is because three months ago my life was turned upside down and this is where I have escaped to.

It was three months ago today that I came home early from work, after a meeting had been cancelled, to find my fiancé in bed with my sister. It was three months ago today that I realised that I could see inside peoples heads and hear their thoughts. It was three months ago today that I found out that physical touch meant I could see images of peoples pasts, and their futures. So it was three months ago today that as he grabbed me to tell me it was a one off I saw the truth, they had been having an affair for nearly two years.

As soon as it happened I knew that everything had changed, the affair, the betrayal I could have coped with. He moved out and left me everything anyway it was really more to do with the fact that from that moment on I have been able to hear people's thoughts and every time I touch someone I see their lives flash before my eyes, I couldn't go back to work, far too many teenage thoughts and issues to cope with and so I left. I sold the house and looked for somewhere to escape to. Ever since vampires came out of the coffin, so to speak, I had heard that Louisiana had become a sort of hotspot for them and I wondered if I would get more peace there, less minds to accidentally find myself in, less memories to see, plus it was hot and I loved the sun.

I guess the rest as they say is history, I researched, found a small place to rent for a while, until I decided if I could stay there or not, packed up and left. I had nothing left in England for me really, because of Tom I had already pulled away from my friends, my parents were long since passed, an accident when I was twelve, and I clearly didn't have a sister anymore.

Putting my suitcases down in the corner of the bedroom, I sink heavily onto the bed and stair at the three cases, not much to show for an entire life but it was all I had left. I had sold everything else so that I would have enough money to tide me over for a few months. A sudden stab of pain in my head causes me to wince and so I slowly stand and draw the curtains before slumping down again and closing my eyes. The journey had been torture, so many thoughts and emotions, I really needed to get a control over whatever this was and soon, it is getting to the point that I can't tell the difference between thoughts and things said out loud which gets very uncomfortable if I answer a thought. My head was pounding and I soon found myself drifting into an uneasy sleep.

When I wake it is well into the next day and, after showering and dressing in a red summer dress, I brush out my long blonde hair and decide to head out and find some food. I take a breath as I exit the apartment and begin my walk along the dusty road, the tarmac shimmering in the afternoon heat and I felt a small smile spread across my face for the first time in a long time. It was peaceful and quiet here, a small country town is exactly what I needed, a far cry from the hustle and bustle of London. After a few minutes I see a sign to a restaurant/bar called Merlottes and seeing as there didn't seem to be much else out here I decided to head for it.

It is half an hour before I reach the driveway to the place and I am beginning to sweat, my feet aching slightly, I think I may have to get a car if I was going to stay here for long. The place looks, well, typically American and despite myself a little thrill of excitement rushes through me at the thought that I lived somewhere like this now, that this could be my local. Stepping through the door I take in the place and the people, the afternoon rush I guess, and I try to ignore the sudden hush whilst they all stare at the stranger amongst them, as I make my way to an empty booth.

"Hi, I'm Sookie what can I get y'all?" a young, pretty waitress with hair a very similar blonde to my own says. I look up at her and smile all the while thinking about whether I can ask her to make the men thinking dirty things about me leave and I am about to order a drink when I stop and stare. She had just thought that she wished she could.

"Can you…?" I croak out eventually, hardly knowing what to say and she slowly nods and unable to even speak she points at me and I can hear her asking the same question of me in her head and I nod.

"Do you know anyone else who…?" she stutters after a few minutes and I almost don't hear her over the thunderous beating of my heart. "Oh wow," she whispers slumping into the seat opposite me.

"I know," I say,

"Where you from?" she asks then and I smile a little nerves and adrenalin still washing through me.

"London, England," I answer,

"What you doing here?" I wince a little at this and she makes a face as if to say she is sorry for prying.

"Long story, I moved here," I say and she nods seeming to understand, "how do you work here?" I ask then and she raises an eyebrow at me.

"It's not that bad, might not be as posh as your London joints but…"

"No I don't mean that, I mean with all the voices," I clarify and she smiles,

"Sometimes its difficult but mostly I can block them out," she says glancing over to the bar and offering another smile to the man standing there looking mildly concerned.

"How?" I ask in awe,

"You mean you can't block it?" she asks now looking alarmed and I shake my head feeling my cheeks flush.

"It's all fairly new to me… all of this,"

"So its not something you've always been able to do?" she asks then and again I shake my head.

"Something happened… a while ago and it just started…" I explain trailing off before looking back up at her, "what about the memories?" I ask then and she looks confused.

"I'm sorry?"

"The flashes of people lives, their pasts and sometimes their futures when you touch their skin, how do you block it?" I ask and she sucks in a breath staring at me hard for a while. "Thats just me then," I say in a whisper as I see the look on her face and she nods.

"Listen, I'm going to get you a drink and some food and then when my shift is over I'll come back and we'll go somewhere to talk and get some answers," she smiles and I smile back at her in relief.

"Thanks Sookie," I sigh and she offers me a smile and I know that I shouldn't really trust someone that I've only just met but then again I can read her thoughts so I can't be fooled that easily anymore, I almost laugh at that, how useful this thing would have been two years ago when I met Tom.

"You're welcome…" she trails off and I realise that I hadn't even given her my name yet,

"Soraya," I reply before sinking back into the seat and feeling happier than I had in, well in three months.


	2. Chapter 2

"You ready?" a voice says by my side as I sip on the sweet iced tea, I could get used to this drink, although if I don't want to be morbidly obese in a months time I should probably limit myself.

"Yep, sorry," I say standing up and following her quickly outside trying to ignore the stares as I do so, "where are we going?" I ask when we are both sitting in her car.

"Fangtasia," she replies and I gulp a little,

"That sounds like…"  
"A vampire bar? Yes it is," she smiles putting the car into gear and getting onto the main road.

"But why…?" I ask trying to formulate my question and work out what I was trying to say at the same time.

"Two main reasons, the first one is that my boyfriend, Bill, is there tonight on business and his boss, the sheriff of this area may have some answers, the second is that you may get some peace there," she replies and when it becomes obvious that she isn't going to say much else I sit in silence to try and work out what she means.

"So you're boyfriend is a…"

"Yes," she answers before I have finished my sentence and I fall silent again, hearing from her mind that she doesn't want to talk anymore until we get there.

"This is it then?" I ask quietly gazing out at the darkness and the building looming in the skyline as we approach and park up.  
"Listen," she says turning to me as I undo my seatbelt, "be careful in here and follow my lead, don't let them know anything unless I say so," she says and I nod opening my mouth to speak but she has already heard my question, "you'll understand in a minute, we'll try and communicate through telepathy okay," she says and I nod again suddenly feeling very nervous as I step out of the car and follow her to the door where a beautiful and terrifying vampire woman stood.

"Sookie," she says in an English accent which somehow makes me feel a little homesick.

"Hi Pam, we're here to see Bill and Eric," Sookie says gesturing me forward but thankfully remembering not to grab my hand, although that may be due to the fact that I was frantically warning her not to touch me in my head.

"Who's your friend," Pam says now turning to examine me and appraising me, "she smells delicious," I fight to repress the shudder and can hear Sookie telling me to calm down.

"I'm Soraya," I smile and am eternally grateful that vampires don't shake hands, her face lights up at the sound of my accent however and she ushers us through to the bar.

"Wait here," Sookie says to me as she deposits me at the bar and disappears down a corridor. I sit stock still feeling incredibly out of place in my red summer dress as I watch all of the people dressed in various pieces of black leather or latex, mind you Sookie was wearing a white dress so at least I was one step closer to these guys with the red. It is as I am staring around that I realise that I can only hear half of their thoughts, I focus a little staring at a couple of them and almost gasp out loud when the answer comes to me. I can't hear the vampires, they are completely silent, God, no wonder Sookie was dating a vampire it must be utter bliss after all those unwanted voices all the time.

"Can I get you a drink?" I turn with a little noise of shock to see a vampire standing behind the bar staring at me with barely restrained lust on his face, his fangs partly out.

"Erm… I… vodka, coke, please," I answer and he nods sniffing the air slightly before moving to make my drink. What is it with these vampires and the way I smell?

"Here," our hands brush as he passes the glass and I instantly know that I am in massive trouble. I see his life, I see his death, I see his afterlife and then I see a flash of something else, blood and pain and fear. It is over in a matter of seconds but when I open my eyes I quickly become aware of several things. Firstly, he had seen what I had seen and was both shocked and angry. Secondly, Sookie was standing in the doorway with two vampires and they all know that I have done something I shouldn't have. And finally, the taller of the two vampires Sookie is standing with was the most terrifying and most beautiful creature I had ever seen.

"I'm sorry," I manage to gasp out my head suddenly pounding again and nausea rushing through me so strongly I grip the side of the bar as I try to push it all away and focus.

"My office. Now," the tall, beautiful vampire says a slight european accent in his voice.

"Come on," Sookie urges pulling me off the stool and steadying me as we follow the two men, I mean vampires, well I guess they are still men just, a bit more dead, 'keep it together' I hear Sookie think at me and I nod.

"You were right Pam, she smells… incredible," the same one says again and I shrink back a little into the chair I have found myself in as his fangs click out and he moves closer to me.

"What is it with you all and the way I smell?" I ask before I can stop myself and I instantly feel Sookie and the vampire she is with, I'm guessing he must be Bill, tense and I glance over guiltily.

"Eric, this is Soraya, isn't she… refreshing?" Pam says and the both grin at me in a slightly predatory manner which makes me want to shudder again.

"So… Soraya," Eric asks sitting in the chair opposite me and pulling it so close that our knees are almost touching.

"Yes?" I say in a slightly defiant tone I know but its a reflex.

"You can read minds like Sookie here?" he asks and I nod, "you can read our minds too?" he asks now and I look at him in surprise and then concentrate for a moment staring at him and trying to read his thoughts before I feel a smile make its way onto my face.

"No…" I say, aware of the wonder and joy in my voice, "you are completely silent," I add and he grins a bit at me before seemingly realising that he is doing it and schooling his face into a blank and terrifying stare.

"So what was that out there?" he asks and I tense visibly this time, 'what do I do?' I think to Sookie and I can hear here trying to work something out before just shrugging at me and shaking her head and I sigh as I realise I am going to have to tell him.

"I… when I touch people I see their lives… and… and sometimes their futures too," I say gulping as he moves forwards his face now inches from mine.

"Vampires too?" I nod,

"Apparently so," I whisper and by this point my back is pressed as firmly into the back of the chair and his fangs are almost grazing my neck as he inhales me.

"What is she?" Pam asks from the other side of the room and Eric seems almost reluctant in pulling away.

"I… don't know," he admits after a while sitting back in his own chair before glancing over at Sookie,

"Something similar to you," he says to her, "but altogether different,"

"What do we do?" Bill asks speaking for the first time and I gaze between them suddenly realising for the first time that I could definitely be about to die and I could feel fear building in me.

"We won't hurt you," Sookie say's suddenly having heard what I was thinking and I glance at her.

"Are you sure because that's not what you're thinking," I reply and Eric laughs out loud making us both jump.

"Oh you will be very useful,"

"I'm not a toy," I snap automatically before flinching as I see his lips tighten a tiny amount.

"Oh but how I would like you to be," he smirks and I scowl at him.

"What are you going to do with me?" I ask instead, deciding to find out exactly what was going to happen to me.

"How long have you had these gifts?" he asks,

"Three months," I reply and he raises an eyebrow at me slightly,

"How…"

"Something happened and they just started," I reply knowing what his question would be.

"Interesting,"

"She has no control over them yet, perhaps she should work with Sookie to gain some," Bill says stepping forward and Eric looks over at him.

"Yes… but she will work with me in the evenings,"

"Doing what?" I ask immediately terrified that he would want me to dance or work at the bar or something.

"Train your other gift," he smirks as if he knew what I had been thinking which makes a change.

"But I have to get a job, I have to earn a living," I say desperately and he sighs in frustration gripping the bridge of his nose and I flinch again.

"I'll pay you a wage," he says at last and his tone says he is not to be argued with so I just nod meekly hanging my head slightly. Tonight has not been exactly what I had been exactly.


	3. Chapter 3

Sitting in the back of the car about an hour later I silently try to decide whether this move has been a good thing or not. Everything has happened so quickly I feel like I have barely had a chance to breathe let alone process things.

"It's okay to freak out a little you know," Sookie says from the passenger seat as she turns slightly towards me and I offer her a weak smile.

"Sookie tells me you are from England, what has brought you to Bon Temps?" Bill asks now and I start a little having almost forgotten he was there I had been so wrapped up in my own thoughts and not used to not hearing his own.

"I… something happened and I needed to get away," I answer knowing that at some point I would probably have to tell them the full story but I didn't want to yet.

"But this is, well, do you have family connections here or something?" he asks and I give a little laugh, albeit a mirthless one, at this.

"No and that is exactly why I came," I say and I can see them exchange a glance at this.

"It's a long way from home," Sookie says eventually and I see a flash of something in her mind and give a little nod as I realise that they are trying to protect each other, they don't know whether to trust me or not.

"I'm not a threat," I say stupidly immediately realising that this is exactly what someone who is a threat would say so add, "I know, that's exactly what I would say but I promise I just wanted to have a quiet life and work out what is wrong with me,"

"Well it looks like the quiet life isn't going to happen not now you have Eric's attention," Bill says and I gulp a little.

"Should I be scared? Is he going to kill me?" I ask in almost a whisper.

"I think he is too interested in your uses to kill you," Bill says and I nod again, I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

"Listen let's get back to my place, I'll make some cocoa and then we can talk through everything okay," Sookie says and Bill shoots her a glance as if to say she shouldn't be letting me know where she lives and she smiles a little and puts a hand on his leg. An action that is both innocent and intimate and it makes my heart constrict painfully as I am made a ware once again about how wrong I had got things with Tom, he had never cared, not really and he had never been protective, not that he had ever really needed to be. "We can trust her Bill, I can see in her head remember and she can't block me yet," she adds and he relaxes a little nodding and we continue on in silence.

Pulling up outside a big old house I start out of my trance like state and step cautiously out of the car.

"This place is beautiful Sookie," I say in wonder and she beams at me.

"Thanks it was my grans," she replies as she ushers me up the stairs and across the porch at the back. I soon find myself sitting at a big kitchen table opposite Bill as Sookie busies herself making cocoa for us and heating a true blood for Bill. A few minutes later we are all sitting silently and I shift nervously in my seat suddenly feeling vulnerable and homesick.

"I…" I falter not really knowing what to say but hating the silence that we had found ourselves in.

"How about I start," Sookie says gently and I smile gratefully at her breathing a tiny sigh of relief. "Okay well I'll start at the beginning I guess…" she says before pausing to gather her own thoughts and taking a sip of her drink. "I have been able to do what we do, hear peoples thoughts that is, for as long as I can remember for a long time it was awful, school, big crowds, I hated it. By the time I started working at Merlottes I had learnt how to block people most of the time, unless I was really tired or stressed by things. Then I met Bill…" she breaks off again now and he reaches across the table to take her hand and my heart constricts a little again.

"I knew she was special the first time I met her," he says now his deep tones startling me a little in the silent kitchen.

"It wasn't until I met Bill that I realised that I couldn't hear vampires," Sookie says and I am silent for a couple of minutes as I digest this information.

"And Eric?" I ask eventually,

"He is sheriff of Area 5 where we are now and as so I answer to him, Sookie has… helped him in the past," Bill says and I stare at them both as I figure out that I wouldn't be getting much else out of them about Eric, at least not tonight.

"So you live here alone?" I ask her now and she smiles sadly nodding her head.

"I've lived here with my gran since my parents were killed when I was seven, she… she was killed a few months ago," she says and I make a noise of sympathy and understanding before we both take another sip of our cocoa and Bill drains his bottle of true blood.

"What about your family?" he asks as he puts down the bottle and I look up at them. We are all silent for a long moment as I gather my own thoughts and decide that I had nothing to lose. I had to trust them.

"My parents were killed when I was 12, my sister and I spent the rest of our childhoods in care as soon as I was eighteen I escaped that and made sure I went to university and got a good career and a house of my own, a home," I say and they both nod at me I stare at my hands but am pleased when I look up that I don't see too much pity on Sookie's face at least, she knew what it was to lose your parents at a young age.

"Your gifts?" Bill prompts and I sigh heavily, not seeing a way of avoiding it any longer, my fingers gripping my mug more tightly as I steel myself to admit my humiliation to them.

"Just over three months ago I came home early from work to find my fiancé in bed with… someone else, as soon as he grabbed me I saw the truth, that the affair had been going on for over a year and ever since then I have been able to hear peoples thoughts and if I touch them I see their pasts and sometimes flashes of their futures too," I finish and furiously blink away the tears in my eyes, I had cried too much for him already.

"What about your sister?" Sookie asks and I look up at them feeling the flush of humiliation creep up my neck, unable to voice the truth.

"She was the someone else in bed with you fiancé," Bill says quietly and I nod feeling the tears I had fought so hard to keep at bay make tracks down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry… this is all… too much… I just…" I break off and shudder and Sookie instinctively grabs my hand but as soon as she does I am thrown into images of her past, her grandmothers body, her nearly being killed and I pull away gasping for air.

"Oh God I'm sorry," she says immediately and I just shake my head.

"What am I going to do?" I ask in a dejected whisper.

"I take you home and you rest, tomorrow you and Sookie will practise how to block others thoughts and then I will take you to Eric and he will work with your other gifts," Bill explains and I can do nothing other than sigh and nod my head yet again.

"He scares me," I admit,

"Just try not to anger him, he is old, much older than me but he still seems to struggle with impulse control at times and does not like his authority to be challenged," Bill says and I sigh again.

"Life just got a lot more complicated didn't it?"

"Yes but we'll help you through it, I promise," Sookie says reassuringly.

"Why? You barely even know me, we only met today," I ask in confusion and she gives a small grin.

"Maybe because you are the only other person I have ever met who can understand what it is like to lose both parents as a child, to have a sibling who is… not always there for you and to have to deal with hearing other people's private thoughts," she explains and I smile a little too at this.

"Well when you put it like that I guess we were destined to be friends," I say quietly.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning I awake feeling slightly happier than I had in a while, yes I was still confused, scared even about not only my 'gifts' as people keep calling them, not to mention the vampires that now had me on their radar… Angry, old, terrifying vampires but I did have a sort of friend now, someone who understood me and parts of my past better than anyone else ever had.

By the time I have showered and dressed in a blue cotton summer dress and sandals it was nearly lunch and so I called Sookie and arranged to meet her at her house in an hour where we would eat and then work.

Arriving at her house, it looks even prettier in the daylight I step out of the taxi and pulling my jacket slightly closer around me as the cool autumn breeze nips at my skin and head up to the front door.

"Hey," she says as she opens the door and ushers me in and through to the kitchen, "toasted sandwich okay, I don't have much else in?"

"Sounds perfect," I smile, "I really need to sort out getting some shopping in to my own place, and a car for that matter… and I guess somewhere more permanent if I'm going to stick around, although that can wait a few months at least," I look up from my musing to see her laughing at me.

"One step at a time Soraya, let's work on your little 'problem' first," she manages at last putting a sandwich and some crisps in front of me and then pouring out some sweet iced tea, I was seriously going to get addicted to this stuff if I don't watch myself.

"So I thought that we'd start by you trying to block me," she says after we have finished eating and she has washed up the plates and glasses.

"Right and how do I do that?" I ask skeptically,

"Close your eyes… focus on where my mind is and then imagine you are shutting a door on my thoughts," she says and I try… and fail.

By the time night has fallen I am exhausted but have managed to block her successfully and she seems impressed.

"Good evening Soraya," Bill says as he walks into the living room where I was curled up on the sofa, I hadn't even noticed Sookie leave to answer the door.

"Hi Bill, good sleep?" I ask and he laughs a little at me as I feel my face flush, he obviously didn't know if he had slept well, he hadn't bloody slept at all he was dead.

"Are you ready? Eric is waiting," he says and I tense a little before nodding and thanking Sookie for her help get ready to leave.

"Listen Soraya, I get off work at 2 tomorrow, how about I pick you up and we go do some shopping, we can practise blocking bigger crowds," she says.

"That would be great, thanks," I say waving to her a little before following Bill out to the car.

The journey to Fangtasia is silent and I am feeling tense and anxious again.

"Just remember what I said, be good and hold your tongue okay?" he says,

"Yes, thank you for helping me," I whisper as I step out of the car and slowly make my way towards the building.

"Soraya you are looking delectable," Pam says as I arrive at the door and I offer her a nervous smile in return.

"Is Eric here?" I ask quietly and she gives me a slightly predatory smile in return before indicating that I should head to his office.

"He's been waiting for you," she calls after me and I suppress the shudder of fear that washes through me.

"Ah Soraya you look… lovely, blue suits you," Eric smiles when he opens the door and I try to smile back.

"Thank you," I say eventually not really knowing what to say. The truth is I am conflicted, he terrified me but at the same time he intrigued me and there was no denying he was beautiful.

"Come, sit, can I get you a drink?" he continues ushering me into the office and the sofa in the corner.

"Erm… just a coke please I guess I should keep a clear head huh?" I say and he smiles again nodding and then calling in a vampire and telling him to get the drink and some true blood for him. We wait in silence until we have our drinks and are alone again and then he turns to me, "before we start I need you to tell me more about what you can do, the touching people thing," he says, his voice deceptively calm and gentle.

"I… I don't really know it just happens. When I touch someone, skin on skin I see their memories, their pasts and sometimes I get flashes of their future too,"

"And this happens with vampires too?" he asks and I tense in fear again, knowing that they did not like people to know things about them and I get the feeling Eric is especially opposed to anyone knowing about his hidden memories and feelings.

"I guess so, I didn't know before last night… I had never met… it was…" I trail off and he nods in understanding.

"I want you to take my hands Soraya," he says facing me fully and I instantly shy away from him.

"I can't… I don't want to… what if I see something you don't want me to?" I say in a panic and he holds his hands up immediately.

"I promise you I will not harm you, no matter what you see," he says, his voice seeming to penetrate right inside me and forcing me to suppress a shudder.

"How can I believe you?" I ask fear evident in my voice despite me trying to hide it. He stares at me for a while seeming to consider it.

"I'll make you a deal, I won't harm you if you promise to work for me, to assist me if I should so need it," he says and I stare right back at him for a long moment before slowly nodding and steadily lowering my hands into his cool ones.

The instant our hands touch I find myself in some remote village, Eric is standing before me a human still and just as beautiful as ever but before I can draw breath I am watching him die, watching him become a vampire. I watch a thousand years flash by in a few seconds and it is overwhelming but then it stops. I am still aware of him, his hands in mine on the couch but I am not back in the room with him and there is a shimmery quality to the new images. Eric holding his wrist to my mouth, Eric pulling me from a room where I was chained and then finally Eric standing in the sunlight. I pull away from him gasping, my head spinning and my limbs shaking as I fight not to pass out. Eventually I manage to gain control over myself and look up to see him staring at me, a look of startled bemusement painted across his face that in any other situation I would probably have found funny. Her stands so suddenly that I let out a little whimper of fear and push myself further into the seat.

"You promised you wouldn't harm me," I say automatically and he smirks,

"I am not going to. Finish your drink I need to discuss some things with Pam," he says dismissively and exits the room leaving me feeling feeling foolish and annoyed.

I sit for a while, sipping my drink, letting my irritation build until I finally give up and putting my glass down I pick up my bag and make my way out into the club and towards the exit. I am nearly at the door when a strong hand grips my arm and I shudder as I feel the same images rush through my head my knees weakening as they do so.

"I didn't say you could go yet," he hisses in my ear and I tug my arm from his grip stumbling a bit as I do so.

"Let go of me… please," I plead and he looks almost taken aback and then angry until he seems to realise what I mean and instead releases me and sort of herds me back to his office where I sit heavily on the sofa, very much aware of the fact that I probably look a lot like a sulky teenager.

"We have much to do with your training," he muses after a moment of silence.

"I don't understand," I reply,

"I assume you want to be able, at some point, to touch others again without these… visions," he smirks and I look up shocked.

"You think I'll be able to?" I ask and he nods,

"I believe that you will be able to block it, much like you are learning to do with Miss Stackhouse and your mind reading, I also think that you will be able to get a stronger read on the images you have seen from the future," he says and I stare at him.

"I… I… I never thought I would be able to touch anyone again," I say in a whisper, "finding out that I can't hear vampires was like heaven, you have no idea how beautiful the silence is but to know that I still can't…" I trail off blushing as I realise that I had unwittingly implied that I wanted to touch a vampire and his predatory grin tells me he clocked it immediately. Bloody brilliant.

"Then we had best start our training in earnest I would hate for you to be denied such… pleasures," he purrs and I avert my eyes as I feel a further flush creep up my neck.

"That's not what I meant… I… I'm not ready to…" I stutter giving up quickly as I hear him laugh. God Soraya you're a grown woman for fucks sake why can't you string a sentence together.

"Hmm well, if you say so," he grins still chuckling a little, "Now go home and rest tomorrow night be here at eight and we shall work on blocking the images you see," he says and I stand up shakily not quite looking him in the eye and stumbling quickly out of the office and towards home where I collapse in bed and am asleep almost instantly.


	5. Chapter 5

The next few weeks drift by fairly quickly in a mix of training with Sookie and Eric. I seem to be progressing fairly quickly much to their delight, I can block all thoughts and visions if I concentrate and I have begun to work on clarifying the visions of the future and trying to induce specific visions too. Of course I had also somehow settled in beautifully and have become fast friends with Sookie, I have even formed tentative friendships of sorts with Bill, Pam and Eric not that I fully trust them but I get the sense that I am safe with them.

It's a Monday night and I'm with Sookie and Jessica, sitting in her car, as we travel towards Jessica's house. I know, I've told her that it's not a good idea but neither of them will listen to me. Needless to say things go from bad to worse, as soon as she see's her sister she is gone and we are chasing her to the door but it's too late. My heart is pounding out of my chest as we sit in the living room waiting for… well, waiting for the shit to hit the fan, to coin a phrase. It happens more quickly than I could have imagined, Jessica has her father pinned to the wall, Bill has crashed through the door and we have been sent to the car by a very, very angry vampire.

The car is oppressively silent as Bill speeds down the road at a terrifying velocity until his argument with Sookie erupts and she is jumping out the car, with me following her.

"Sookie," I call out as I follow her, running towards her footsteps, "Sookie where are you?" a noise behind me startles me and I stop and turn towards it thinking it must be Sookie and I have somehow overtaken her. "Sookie is that you?" I ask more quietly, a slight tremble in my voice as the eerie darkness of the woods starts to get to me. I peer more closely at the figure emerging from the shadows and gasp as I see some sort of human, beast hybrid, it snarls at me and I scream running in the opposite direction. Oh God I hope it hasn't got Sookie. Suddenly, a pain like none I have ever experienced is pulsing through me and I am on the ground. Another scream echoes around me and I don't know if it is me or someone else.

"Soraya," the voice is full of panic and it makes me whimper again before screaming as I am pulled onto my back.

"Bill, hey," I whisper as I look up into his face, "I can't feel anything," I add with a sort of bemused detachment and hearing a whimper beside me I look over to see Sookie, tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Soraya, this is all my fault," she cries and I smile a little at her,

"Hey, it's okay better me than you," I whisper to her,

"Here, drink," Bill says thrusting his wrist to my mouth and after only a second of hesitation I drink for all of about three seconds before pain pulses through me again and my brain shuts down.

Everything is blurry. A mix of pain and fuzzy darkness, I am aware of being carried, a car engine and then doors slamming. Then a new place, and a smell that I know but can't place and then darkness again. I awake with a scream, unable to see anything, but I can sense things, I can sense him there.

"Eric," my voice is hoarse and I can hear the pain in it as I speak his name.

"I'm here Soraya, lie still," he says, his voice calm and controlled but I can hear the tension beneath it. "What the fuck happened?" he then asks and I know he is speaking to someone else but I don't have the energy to figure out who, especially when the pain redoubles and darkness quickly descends over me again.

"She can take your blood now," a strange voice I don't recognise filters through my consciousness and I can feel my head being lifted slightly.

"Here Soraya, you must drink to heal you," Eric's voice washes over me and I can't find it in me to be disgusted or to question his sudden attachment to a mere human, or think about the fact that he just needs me alive to use me. Instead I weakly nod and latch onto his wrist feeling higher with every gulp.

"Thank you," I whisper eventually, managing to open my eyes and stare up blearily into his beautiful face, his eyes seem slightly warmer than usual even in my delirious state, or maybe it's because of my delirious state that they look that way, and he offers me a tiny smile before gently placing my head down and moving off. I try to watch him but my eyes are already closing with an exhaustion that I guess comes after almost dying.

This time when I wake up Sookie is sitting beside me and I am wearing some sort of oversized t-shirt they must sell here to the tourists.

"Oh thank God you're okay," she says immediately embracing me.

"What happened?" I ask hoarsely as I sit up slowly and try to get my bearings.

"You were attacked…" she starts and I make a slight noise of comprehension as I remember,

"My back," I say standing but she smiles and urges me to sit back down.

"It's healed, Eric's blood…" she says trailing off as I nod and then grimace a tiny amount as I remember drinking from him.

"Yeah, that I remember," I say and she laughs,

"You've really done a number on him," she muses and I look at her startled,

"What are you talking about?" I ask and she laughs again.

"Eric, well, I've never seen him so… concerned for anything before, I think he really likes you," I laugh at this.

"I think he likes the fact that I can work for him," I reply and she shakes her head a little.

"Speaking of which, it seems we're off to Texas tomorrow,"

"What?" I exclaim nearly jumping up again.

"A vampire sheriff has gone missing there and Eric says he needs your help, well, our help, to find him," she says looking both excited and frustrated at the same time.

"Right, so how? What? I mean…" there are so many questions flying around in my head that I am struggling to put them into any sort of order.

"Its sun down in a few minutes they'll explain everything, all I know is that we're leaving tomorrow night," she says. "Oh and I wouldn't be so sure about Eric you know, you didn't see him last night," before I can answer her we hear a noise out the back and both stand to face the corridor that leads to Eric's office. 'No, but I probably will see it at some point' I think to her and she laughs and I blink only to find Bill by Sookie's side and Eric standing in front of me examining me intently.

"How are you feeling?" he asks eventually and I smile at him which seems to relax him slightly although I can still sense a tenseness about him.

"Well enough for a trip to Texas apparently," I smirk and he smiles at me this time.

"We're off Soraya, Bill and I will pick you up at about 6 tomorrow evening, just after sundown," Sookie smiles and I turn to respond but Eric jumps in.

"There is no need Soraya and I shall meet you at the airport,"

"I thought you were staying here to oversee the bar," Bill says in surprise, well as much surprise as a vampire can show.

"I think that given the… events of last night I should be there too," he offers by way of explanation and I honestly don't know what to think. I don't miss the wink that Sookie sends my way as she and Bill leave or the message of 'be careful' she thinks to me. Could she have been right? Could he see me as more than just an asset? Could I be ready to see anyone else in that light since Tom? "I can feel your emotions, do not confuse my concern for something more than it is," he says quietly and I look up in shock already feeling the blush creeping up my neck.

"I… I wasn't, I…" my voice is stuttering in my embarrassment, "hang on a minute what do you mean you can feel my emotions?" I ask and he smirks.

"You have had my blood," what the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?  
"Right…" I prompt waiting for him to actually explain some of this to me.

"It means that I am now connected with you in a small way, I can feel your emotions and I can track where you are,"

"Well that's just brilliant isn't it," I huff as I grab at my bag, "right well I need to go and pack so I guess I'll see you tomorrow night," I say as I go to leave.

"Wait, Cho will go with you and guard the outside of your house for the night, I do not wish for you to be injured again," he says and I move to argue but can tell that he can sense my frustration anyway, if the little growl he gives is anything to go by so give up and just nod instead.

"Okay and thanks for… you know saving me and everything," I mutter as I leave.


	6. Chapter 6

By four the next afternoon I have my suitcase packed and am ready and waiting. I am filled with nervous energy as I pace around the room having no idea what the next few days had in store for me. My hair is loose and bleached by the sun as it hangs in natural waves to my lower back and although I have on slightly more makeup than usual, it is a kind of holiday after all, it is still natural and not massively noticeable. I am wearing a deep, sea blue dress with silver ballet pumps, and before you say anything it is not because Eric said he like that colour on me and just because I like the dress. Honestly! It really is, well at least that's what I'm telling myself.

"You look beautiful," Eric says smoothly from outside my window making me jump in fright and spin round, letting out a nervous giggle as I see him hovering there.

"Thanks," I manage after I have had a moment to regain my composure.

"Come, or we will be late," he says with a smirk and I pick up my case locking the house behind me and heading out to his car.

We reach the tiny private airport about twenty minutes later and after having stowed my luggage and situated myself on the plane next to Sookie I look up to see Eric moving to leave and a sudden panic rushes through me.

"I have… other ways to get to Texas more quickly I shall meet you there," he says softly leaning down towards me and I start again in confusion.

"How did…?"

"I can feel your emotions remember," he smiles and I relax and laugh a little myself.

"Oh… yeah, I thought for a minute there you'd become like Sookie and I," he laughs at that and then he is gone and Sookie and I are on our way with Bill in his travel coffin.

By the time we arrive in Dallas Sookie and I have managed to drink several mini bottles of wine and are both feeling more excited than nervous.

"Oh over here," Sookie calls and I look over to see a man holding a sign with our names on.

"Sookie are you sure we should…" but before I have finished speaking she is halfway towards him and after glancing around to see that the travel coffin with Bill in is being unloaded I follow Sookie who is now talking to the man.

"Hey get your hands off me," she yells suddenly and I rush the last couple of steps and grab him forgetting to block in my panic and being thrown into visions of a church, being ordered here to kidnap us, being glamoured by Bill, gunfire and pain and fire. I am gasping for air by the time I have pulled away and my legs buckle beneath me sending me crashing towards the ground.

"Soraya, what did you see?" Cookie asks and I look up to see her beside me looking concerned and I offer her a reassuring smile but she is in my head and I can tell she knows I am shaken and so, too tired to talk I tell her through telepathy and she nods before standing and whispering to Bill who immediately glamours the man and pushes him into the car, turning to me he smiles slightly and lifts me quickly into the car too.

"Eric shall kill me when he sees the state of you," he mutters half to himself and I manage a weak giggle before exhaustion washes over me.

Waking up I realise that I am laying on a large double bed and Eric is sitting beside me leaning against the head board.

"I wondered if you were going to wake before dawn," he muses as I shift and pull myself to a sitting position.

"We're at the hotel then," I state and he nods at me shifting off of the bed to get me a drink which he passes to me before sitting back in his previous position.

"I was… concerned when Bill brought you in," he says softly and I feel confusion rush through me coupled with a feeling of security which I quickly realise he has felt too as he begins to smirk.

"I would not feel so sure about your safety," he says quickly and I gulp a little as he moves with lightning speed to be hovering over me, his body pressed against mine as I am pushed further into he mattress.

"Then what are you doing in my room?" I ask feeling stupid and aroused and confused in one, a feeling which only heightens as I see his fangs click out and hear his slight growl as he seems to fight to control himself. His lips and then his teeth graze against my exposed throat and a shudder forces its way through my body despite my best efforts.

"If you only knew how good you smelt… how hard it is to be near you without…" he suddenly licks the pulse point on my neck and I bite back the moan that so desperately wants to escape.

"Maybe you should leave then," I manage to get out my voice sounding embarrassingly breathy as his hips press more firmly into mine causing another shudder to roll through my body and my hips to undulate against my better judgement which makes him growl before he moves his head and kisses me firmly ripping a gasp of shock from my throat. Which quickly becomes a moan as my hands find themselves in his hair.

"This is my room why would I leave?" he whispers into my skin and I am so wrapped up in the sensations he is causing that it takes a while for his words to penetrate my foggy mind.  
"Hang on a minute…" I say eventually as I work out what he is saying and I struggle out from under him pushing him off me slightly and he obliges, sitting back at the end of the bed panting slightly, his fangs still out and his pupils dilated with lust. If I had been thinking straight I may have realised that he could have easily kept where he was he was far stronger than I would ever be, of course I would have also thought about how valuable an asset I am to him and that is why he is keeping me sweet. "If this is your room, why am I here?" I ask and he smirks again.

"It is our room," he says simply and a combination of indignation, outrage and fear pulse through me so powerfully that I see him almost wince as he experiences the same emotions.

"I'm not some… some… cheap whore!" I shout eventually standing shakily and fixing the top of my dress which he had managed to nearly pull off completely.

"I never suspected you were," he laughs and I scowl at him, angry tears suddenly burning in my eyes.

"I hate you Eric Northman, how could you? Just when I was beginning to trust you! You can use me all you want for work because I promised you could and because you have helped me control my gift but I will never let you use me like that!" I virtually spit the last words as I storm into the bathroom and lock the door before sinking to the floor and muffling my crying against my arms which I haver wrapped around my legs. I am not really sure why I am so angry, I think maybe it is the shock of the intensity of the visions earlier, or more accurately the intensity of what I feel with Eric. I was terrified that I was falling in love with him, that I would be hurt again like with Tom. Who was I kidding I knew that if I let myself love… even like Eric that he would hurt me far worse than Tom ever had. I knew it because what I felt with Eric was already stronger than anything I had felt with Tom and that was possibly what scared me the most.

"Soraya," Eric's voice is soft when he calls me through the door a few minutes later, "I am sorry Soraya, I value you, I did not mean… please come out so we can talk," I appreciate his asking me anything as I know that he could force his way in, force me to do anything if he really wanted and so standing on shaky legs I wipe my eyes and open the door quietly moving towards the sofa. I hadn't realised how enormous and grand this place was and I take a second to gaze around at it in awe. "Soraya," his voice makes me look up at him and I quickly drop my gaze from his intense stare.

"I'm sorry," I whisper embarrassment washing through me and therefore him too as he could feel everything I did and he sighs as he sinks into the seat beside me.

"You need not apologise, I should not have pushed you so far,"

"What's this the great and emotionless Eric Northman being kind?" I ask with a tiny smile and he shakes his head and makes a noise somewhere between amusement and frustration.

"You are different," he admits after a while and it is my turn to sigh.

"Well done Sherlock, we all knew that unless you have a habit of collecting telepaths with weird touching issues," I say sarcastically.

"I do not mean that as you well know," he growls,

"Then what do you mean?" I ask looking up at him.

"I am not sure I know the answer to that yet," he says before looking at me with that intense stare again, "it will be dawn in a few moments, we should rest… I promise I will not harm you… in any way, tomorrow you will go with Sookie, she will explain what you are to do but be safe and do not do anything until you know I can get there to protect you," he says before leaning forward and kissing me lightly on the forehead before taking my hand and leading me to the bed again.

"How is this possible?" I ask after a moments silence and he looks at me raising an eyebrow to ask what I am talking about, "We were touching before, you are holding my hand now and neither time I was blocking you and yet I am not seeing any visions how is that possible?" I ask again.

"I think that maybe because you have had my blood and we are connected you will no longer see visions of me unless you concentrate on them," he offers by way of answer and although I smile I feel anxiety creep over me, this was just another thing that made me rely on him. He was now the only other person, the only other creature I could touch without concentrating on not seeing visions of their past and their futures.

Sleep is a long time coming that night, or morning really, it is hard to tell the hours in a light tight room, but eventually my eyes grow heavy and my tired brain relaxes and sends me off into a deep dreamless sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, so I know it's been a while sorry about that I've been super busy. I have kind of chopped and changed things, so basically I am taking what I like the best from the TV series and the books and then adding my own spin to them because, well, isn't that what fan fiction is all about. For those of you who are fans of the books as there story goes on it will be more heavily based on the books as I love them and the TV series lost the plot a bit by the end, plus there are certain characters I couldn't not include. Anyway I hope you enjoy and please review and comment and let me know how you like it etc.**

By the time I wake up it is nearly two in the afternoon and it takes me a moment to realise that the reason I was awake was because someone was knocking on the door.

"Soraya come on," Sookie's voice sounds both frustrated and full of anxious excitement and as I open the door I see that her expression and countenance offer the same mix of emotions.

"What time is it? What's going on?" I ask drowsily letting her come in and heading towards the bathroom.

"It's nearly two," she says which startles me a little, honestly hanging around with all these vampires was beginning to really mess with my body clock.

"What's the plan then?" I ask grabbing a towel from the rack and leaning against the bathroom doorframe.

"We're meeting a guy in an hour, he's the human boyfriend of one of the vampires here and he's going to pretend to be my fiancé and you my maid of honour as we go to look around the church of the Fellowship of the Sun," she explains and I nod as I take this in, reading from her mind the missing details about Godric and the scary Texas vampires.

"Okay, I'll be ready in an hour then, meet you downstairs?" I ask and she nods smiling as she exits thinking very loudly about the buffet breakfast.

Less than an hour later I am showered, dressed and fed and sitting in the back of the car as we head to the church. There was an anxious feeling beginning to grow in my stomach as we park up but I push it away quickly and decide that I would just have to suck it up and taking a deep breath I follow the other two into the church. As we are greeted by Steve and Sarah Newline, both of who give me the creeps, I begin to think about how I had got myself so reliant on a vampire. I mean I had come here to escape, to get away from the heartbreak only to find myself in even deeper, far too deep. I felt for him more strongly than I had ever felt for anyone and it terrified me and excited me in equal measure. He was unlike anyone I had ever met before, strong and completely deadly and yet there was something else too, a kinds, although that may be wishful thinking on my part!

"Sophie, are you still with us?" a voice asks and before I can pull myself fully from my daydreaming a hand reaches for my arm and I am thrown into a powerful vision. There was a cage, Sookie and the guy we were with were in another one, I hurt everywhere and I was scared. Then there was screaming and fire and pain and fear. For a long time that is all I can see and feel, the pain is ebbing and flowing almost as if it is taking place in different events but I can't work them out but before long I can feel sickness wash over me as the hand is wrenched from my arm and my legs buckle, black spots dancing across my vision.

"Soraya," the voice is quiet and even through my haze I can hear the fear in it and so I struggle to open my eyes and sit up. As soon as I do so I regret it a little bit. I was in the cage from the vision and every inch of me hurt, trying to breathe I can feel that at least two of ribs were broken and reaching my hand up to my pounding head I find it caked in drying blood.

"What happened?" I manage after a moment, having taken stock of my injuries and looking towards Sookie, who looked pretty beaten up herself.

"Sarah Newlin touched you and you had a vision, they figured something was wrong and dragged us down here, none too gently," she says by way of explanation and I sigh a little.

"I'm sorry," I whisper but she shakes her head,

"Not your fault," she replies but it is my turn to shake my head at her because I knew it was, if I hadn't been thinking about Eric this would never have happened.

"What happens now?" I ask instead but before she can answer footsteps alert us of someone coming and a few seconds later a man appears before the two cells we have been locked in.

"Please just let me go, I'll do whatever you want, I'll tell you everything," the man, I couldn't even remember his name, starts pleading and both Sookie and I share a disgusted glance his way before turning back to the man.

"What do you want with us?" I ask dragging myself to my feet and trying to sound a lot braver than I felt.

"You're going to meet the dawn with your friends," he growls and Sookie gasps, I can hear her panic and I try to communicate with her to stay calm even as I hear her begin to cry.

"You're despicable," I spit back at him and he laughs before opening my cell door and walking towards me forcing me to back up until my back connects painfully with the wall.

"You think you can speak to me like that, slut!" he hisses as I find myself thrown to the floor, gasping for breath and yelping in pain as his fist connects with my already damaged ribs. I can hear Sookie screaming but my vision is blurring with the fear pumping through me. He was on top of me now and I was crying and yelling for him to stop as I tried to fight him off but he was big and strong and I was injured and weakened by the visions.

Suddenly, he is gone from on top of me and dead on the other side of the room a vampire standing over me and I am shaking on the floor a new fear pulsing through me along with a crippling relief.

"Tha… thank you," I stutter out and the vampire turns to me. He can't be more than sixteen years old and it shocked me so much I gasped as he stepped towards me. He was ancient, I don't know how I know it was a feeling, his entire body seemed to be covered in ancient blue tattoos that were faded and I couldn't work out what they said or meant but they fascinated me.

"Here," he says reaching for and grabbing my hand before I can pull away and the visions are so powerful I am physically sick as he pulls away.

"You… you're Eric's maker," I gasp out my voice not much more than an exhausted rasp and he himself looks shocked as he crouches in front of me.

"What are you?" he asks in a quiet voice, his accent heavy, his ancient eyes examining me and I almost manage to smile a little.

"I wish I knew," I murmur exhaustion and pain overwhelming me quickly, "we have to leave," I say now forcing the tiredness away.

"Soraya," Sookie whimpers and I pull myself to my feet biting back the moan of pain as I do so.

"Can you get her out?" I ask turning to the vampire and he nods moving quickly to release her, "Eric and Bill will be here soon, we have to hurry or they may be hurt," I say, aware of the harsh rasping that my speaking and breathing is causing as I try desperately not to pull on my damaged ribs.

"How do you know they will be here?" the vampire asks curiously, "what are they doing in Texas?" he adds.

"Eric brought us here to help find you, I didn't know why but as you are his maker it makes more sense now, I have had his blood he would have felt my fear and my pain," I say.

"And you are sure he will come here for you?" he says and doubt fills me despite myself, his words about me not overthinking his feelings coming back to me but before I can answer Sookie does for me.

"He will be here, he's different around her, he will rip this place apart to find her," she says confidently and I avoid both of their gazes as we begin to move.

"Let me carry you," he says as I stumble and gasp in pain but I shake my head baking away from him quickly.

"I can't… I'm not… I do not have the energy to block the visions, they are too strong," I reply and he sighs a little before moving again.

"I am sorry," he says after a moment,

"It is not your fault," I reply, "what is your name?" I ask after another moment of silence, other than the wheezing and gasping of my breathing.

"Godric," he says simply and before he can say anything else we are out of the dungeons and trying to move silently out of the church and it's going great for about thirty seconds before we are surrounded and dragged to the alter, or sacrificial table!

Godric is strapped to the table and I can't work out why he is letting them, I had seen his life, I knew that he could kill everyone here, weapons or no weapons in minutes. The guy may have looked like a child, he may have been a child when he was killed and turned but he was more than two thousand years old. He had seen things, and now I had too, that were almost impossible to imagine. I had thought that seeing Eric's life was intense but seeing Godric's was insane and yet still the thing that stood out the most to me was seeing him turn Eric, seeing their life together before they separated, those memories were burnt into my own mind now.

"Soraya," the voice is loud even through the pounding in my head and I find myself groaning in pain as I am pulled flush against someone their arm around my throat. I gaze around blearily and my heart leaps as joy and fear sweep through me so strongly I see him almost react to it despite the situation. Eric is standing together with Bill and the other Texas vampires, looking deadly and more frightening than I had ever seen him and yet in his eyes I could detect worry and a tiny note of something else I can't place. I try desperately to keep my eyes on him as the fighting begins and then as Godric breaks free somehow and begins speaking to the church but the fuzziness in my head is becoming stronger and breathing is becoming harder.

"Soraya… Soraya, please you must drink love," the voice washes over me as I begin to slowly become aware of what is going on around me again and with it I feel a wrist being pressed gently to my mouth and I gulp down the blood hungrily, desperate for the pain to stop.

When I wake this time I am in a bedroom of some kind, it is not the hotel I know that and it is not my home, it is a house though I can tell that. I sit up abruptly and notice that my injuries are nearly healed although there is still a slight ache in my right side and my head still throbbed with the movement slightly.

"Be still child, you are too eager to move after suffering such injuries," a voice says and I look up startled to see Godric standing just inside the doorway.

"She is stubborn like that," another voice, one that immediately causes calm to wash over me, says from the other side of the room and I look over to see a slight smirk cross Eric's face before he is frowning again. "I told you to be safe," he growls now and I sigh.

"I'm sorry," I offer not really knowing what else to say, I mean it was my fault after all wasn't it.

"Sorry, what was I supposed to do if you got yourself killed?" he says now raising his voice and before I know it I am standing too because, well, because I was so fed up of being used by men and vampires.

"Oh yes well wouldn't it be inconvenient for you if your precious toy got broken," I sneer and he growls as he approaches me but we are interrupted by Godric before we can continue.

"Enough," he says sternly and we both turn to face him breathing rather heavily but standing silently even so.

"I…" I start after I become uncomfortable with the silence but Godric holds up a hand to stop me even as Eric tenses beside me.

"Come, let us go down and enjoy the celebrations," he says and I quirk an eyebrow and glance at Eric who simply mutters a response about the vampires throwing a party to celebrate Godric's return before virtually storming out of the room.

I stand bewildered for a moment in his wake before I am startled out of my thoughts by Godric moving to stand in front of me.

"Be patient with him Soraya," he says and I look at him confusion,

"I don't understand," I say in a whisper and he smiles although he sighs a little too,

"Eric is… he is not good with love, he has come to lock away his humanity over the centuries and I think that maybe I am partly to blame for that. I taught him not to have emotions, I taught him not to care, that love was weakness. I was wrong," the ancient vampire admits and I stare at him in complete shock unable to say anything as he ushers me down to the party and takes his seat on a throne of sorts amongst his subjects. For a while I simply stand in the corner of the room relishing the silence of the vampires and focusing on the thoughts of the humans here, but they are mostly just thinking about sex and so I tune out quickly until one muddled brain catches my attention. His thoughts jumbled and messy until one phrase breaks through 'must kill them all, blow them up,' I scream before I can stop myself and instantly Eric is in front of me staring down at me but I am looking past him at the man who has now put his hand in his pocket.

"Bomb," I scream pulling Eric away from the man and then all I hear is a ringing in my ears.


	8. Chapter 8

"Eric," I call out his name as I come back to my senses, "Eric please," I try again. His eyes remain closed and his body still and panic begins to rise like bile in my throat as I shake him, unaware of the pain in my own body. I mean if I had stopped to think about it for a second I would realise that I was getting hurt a little too often these days, I had only just been healed for god's sake, like literally hours ago and now I could feel blood trickling down my face again. The problem was that in this moment all I could do was think about how I felt about Eric and I realise very suddenly that I was in love with him and the thought made me very nearly reel back in fear. I couldn't be in love with him, he was deadly, he was dead! He was a fucking vampire! Oh and he definitely did not love me, Godric had basically told me that he didn't even understand love, he couldn't feel it, especially for someone like me, a mere human, albeit one with freaky weird powers but still. A tiny groan pulls me from my thoughts and I stare down at Eric who is trying to move and failing, I quickly get to work pulling the bits of silver shrapnel from him, panicking when he still isn't healing.

"Soraya… engel (angel)," he murmurs and I instinctively reach for his hand.

"Tell me what you need," I say trying not to hear the desperate edge in my voice as I speak to him.

"Blood," he says and I curse myself for being so stupid and automatically press my wrist to him mouth, biting back the whimper of pain as he bites into my flesh and drinks hungrily, pulling away just as I am beginning to get lightheaded and then moving at lightening speed so that I am sitting in his lap, raising his wrist to his mouth until I hand on his shoulder stops him. I look up hazily through heavy lids from where my head rests on Eric's shoulder.

"Let me my child my blood is more powerful it will heal her quicker," he says and Eric seems to hesitate almost as if he doesn't want anyone else to heal me but then he glances at me again and nods his head once, still holding me to him as Godric bites into his wrist offers it to me.

"Thank you," I manage to say in a whisper when he pulls away.

"Come we must get back to the hotel," Eric says shortly almost throwing me off him he stands so quickly.

We move in silence, Eric, Godric, Sookie, Bill and I towards the hotel. By the time we reach the lobby I am not concentrating on anything other than the anxiety in my stomach. I vaguely hear the arrangements to meet and leave for Bon Temps tomorrow at sun down before I am dragged into the lift and up to the room I was sharing with Eric and now apparently Godric too. Brilliant I get to be in a room with two completely deadly and ancient creatures.

"Will you stop feeling so anxious it is distracting," Eric growls suddenly and I jump and back towards the wall in fright.

"I can't help it," I say indignantly and he is inches from me in less than a second,

"You put yourself in constant danger and it needs to stop now," he shouts and now I am angry too,

"You're the one who brought me here in case you forgot," I yell back pushing him and then yelping in pain as he throws me back into the wall one hand around my throat.

"Do not push me, human," he growls and suddenly I am afraid for the first time since I met him that he would kill me. His eyes in that moment are cold and empty and I feel as if I have been doused in ice water as I struggle in his grip. Finding myself slumped on the floor as he releases me I look up to see that the only reason that he had released me because Godric had hold of him and the hurt that rushes through me is so strong that I see both of them wince as I struggle to my feet.

"I… I'm… goodbye," I stutter trying desperately not to cry although knowing it is useless as they can feel the hurt and the heartache.

"Wait," Godric commands and for some reason I listen to him as I notice Eric standing rigidly beside him.

"I…" I try to speak but no words come out and so instead I give up the battle and sink to the floor again, my back resting against the wall, "just let me go Eric," I plead in a whisper and he growls.

"I cannot," he says in response and I look at him and then to Godric who smiles a little at me, before he too turns to face Eric.

"Why my child? Why can you not let her go? Why does her being in danger enrage you so?" he asks and Eric looks so lost that traitorous heart aches for him.

"I do not know, I… she makes me want to protect her, she smells so… so is so different… but it is weakness, she is useful that is all," he replies and I hang my head, hurt pulsing through me once again even though I know that he is clearly trying to justify his own confusing feelings.

"Is that really all she is to you? An asset?" Godric answers now and I feel Eric's confusion rolling through me shortly followed by his sullen determination and I very nearly gasp as I look up again before I realise that I could feel his emotions, just as he could feel mine, we were connected because we had had one another's blood.

"He doesn't care about me," I murmur now and they both turn to look at me, unreadable expressions on their faces.

"So I can lay claim to her then," Godric says taking a step towards me and before I can even struggle to my feet Eric is standing before me, facing his maker and the protectiveness and passiveness he is feeling him is rolling off him in waves, even without the bond it was easy to see.

"She. Is. Mine." he hisses punctuating each word and Godric grins as he looks at both of us.

"You are in love with her," he states simply and Eric laughs before turning away and striding to the other side of the room.

"Love is a weakness you taught me that,"

"I was wrong my child," Godric sighs walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder, looking to the outside world and at a distance to be a child comforting his father, if only they knew how different it really was. "She is special, hun er et (she is you one)," he says before turning back towards me. "You have much to discuss with one another, I shall rest in the other room," he says and I can only nod, still slumped against the wall shaking with a combination of confusion, exhaustion and fear.

For a long time neither of us move, we can feel each others emotion and it is paralysing. His confusion, his pain and want and frustration was overwhelming me and I could do nothing other than sit and shake, the tears that had threatened earlier now making steady tracks down my cheeks. Suddenly, I find myself pulled into strong arms and cradled against a solid chest, my head buried in his neck as Eric murmurs things to me in his native tongue, words I don't understand but that I understand from his tone to be soothing.

"I'm sorry," I say eventually, and his grip on me tightens even more until he lets go completely and stands up abruptly. For a second I think that he is going to leave again but before it can cement as a thought in my mind and grow into doubt he pulls me up and practically carries me to the huge bed pulling me into his arms again once he is resting against the headboard.

"I am… Godric he was…" he breaks off rubbing a hand over his face and looking more human than I had ever seen him, almost vulnerable and it both scared me and made me inexplicably happy that he trusts me enough to show this side of himself to me.

"I understand," I say in a whisper and he looks down at me and quirks an eyebrow at me so I continue quietly avoiding his gaze. "When I came home and found, found my fiancé in bed with my sister I wanted to shut everything off, when he touched me and I saw that they had been doing this behind my back for over a year, I wanted to never feel anything again. Everywhere I went I heard lies and deceit and terrible things inside peoples heads and saw worse when they touched me, if I… if I hadn't met you and found a way to block it, a reason to trust again I would have tried to block everything out. That's all you did, you blocked it all out and you had hundreds of years longer than I, to learn who to do that, but," I break off feeling suddenly incredibly nervous, "well, perhaps now it's time to let something in again," I finish in a whisper, fidgeting slightly when after several moments of silence he still hasn't said anything.

"Godric was right," he murmurs after a while, "du er min en (you are my one)," his words wash over me and whilst I don't understand what they mean I somehow know that they are caring.

"What are you saying?" I ask still unsure, still nervous about what to expect from this man.

"I am saying that, should you have me I will be yours and you will be mine," he says and the passiveness in his voice makes me shudder.

"You already know that I love you," I say and it is a statement more than anything else and he nods,

"I know," he smiles moving slightly so that I find myself beneath him his body pressed into mine in the same way as it had just last night, was it really only last night? It felt like years ago.

"What I don't know, is how you feel about me," I say now my voice breathless as his mouth finds my neck and he begins trailing open mouthed kisses along it and up towards my jaw.

"I feel that you are intoxicating in a way I have never experienced and I feel that were anything to happen to you I would destroy the world to make it right," he says and although he does not say the words I love you, this somehow means more because it is more him.


	9. Chapter 9

I wake to a content feeling flowing through me and a heavy weight across my stomach. Turning slowly I spend a few moments watching Eric, he looks so… peaceful and yes I know I should be grossed out by the fact that he is technically like fully dead right now, but, well, he just looks so peaceful and it makes me smile. I creep out of bed silently, knowing that even though he is dead to the world right now if something loud enough happened it would wake him. I creep to the doorway and check on Godric too, seeing him lying in the centre of the other bed. Yeah, I know, if I had known about the other room and bed the other night it may have avoided the argument, although that could also be blamed on the fact that I didn't even bother to cheek, I just assumed that Eric was being a sleazy bloke and he didn't correct me but maybe it was because he was hurt that I didn't trust him. I would be, probably.

Sighing I head into the bathroom and spend a good half an hour in the shower washing off the grime of last night. By the time I have scrubbed the blood and dirt and the feeling of everything from me the water is almost running cold and my skin feels red raw. I wrap a towel around myself and move back to the bedroom to find something to wear noticing that it is only a couple of hours until sundown and so quickly selecting a pale blue sundress and wedges I move back to the bathroom and after drying my hair and fixing my makeup I get dressed and then picking up my book decide to sit and read until my two roommates awoke.

"You look beautiful," Eric's voice is gravely and it startles me so much I drop my book and jump up.

"Sorry, you scared me," I say feeling myself blush as I glance at him and he is so sinfully sexy as he stretches out on the bed that I feel myself blushing further.

"I am going to shower and then we will be our way," he say suddenly right in front of me and I nod dumbly at him, still hesitant, still nervous and he senses it, sighing a little before kissing me on the forehead and walking into the bathroom.

"I see you resolved your issues with my child," Godric says from behind me making me jump again.

"Some of them at least," I say as I sink back onto the sofa again.

"You still do not trust that he loves you," he says taking a seat beside me and I remember that he can feel my emotions.

"It's not that, not exactly, it's just… the last time I let someone in they hurt me so badly it nearly broke me and the way I feel for Eric is stronger than I ever felt for him. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am scared that if I let him in fully, if I trust him completely and he hurts me, it won't just hurt me, it will destroy me," I say in a whisper.

"He is my child Soraya, I know him better than any other in this world, I have known him longer than any other, I share a bond with him and I can tell what he feels," he explains and I gaze up at him as he shares this information with me, knowing that vampires are secretive and protective of their systems and ways it means a lot that he would share this with me. "What I am trying to say is, what he feels for you, is unlike anything I have known of him before, he does love you, even if he doesn't fully realise how much yet, just give him time child,"

"Okay," I whisper as I hear the shower turn off,

"Eric was right, you do look beautiful," he smiles now and I blush again, ducking my head slightly.

"Come, we should be leaving," Eric says from beside me a moment later and I look up to him and nod silently, jumping a tiny bit when his hand reaches for mine and he laces our fingers together. For a second I stare at our joined hands before looking up at him and smiling more brightly than I had in days.

"Let's go then," I whisper and he smiles back at me before turning to Godric,

"You are coming with us?" he phrases it as a question and I can feel the tension in him as he does so.

"For a time I will stay, before I move on," he replies and I can feel Eric relax and I do too, almost sagging as a tension I hadn't even realised was hanging over us, disappeared.

"Good," I smile and I feel Eric squeeze my hand a little tighter which makes me smile even more.

As we walk towards the aeroplane an hour or so later I feel myself slowing to a stop as I watch Sookie and Bill board the small plane, Jessica behind them.

"What is wrong engel?" Eric asks quietly as he stops beside me and I look up with him, feeling myself blush furiously at the thought of telling him what I was feeling.

"I… erm, are you getting home a different way again?" I ask and he smiles suddenly squeezing my fingers tightly.

"No, I thought I might stay with you this journey," he says and I feel my face light up at this. You see it was the little gestures like this that proved to me that he cared. Like Godric had said, whether he knew it or not he made these little gestures, to keep me safe, to keep me happy and it made me feel more special than I could imagine.

"Thank you," I whisper after a minute and he turns back to me from his position above me on the stairs.

"Soraya," he sighs breaking off as Godric calls to him, "It is nothing," he finishes although I feel like he had wanted to say a lot more but I shrug it off and simply smile again at him as he pulls me up until I am in front of him and ushers me into the plane.

"Here," he says as he helps to strap me into my seat before passing me a drink and then taking a seat beside me. Ordinarily, I would hate someone treating me like such a submissive, I would hate to be dominated in this way and controlled but for some reason he made me… want it! It was like his control made me feel wanted and safe in a way I never had before and it was a feeling that scared me because I was fast becoming addicted to it. I craved having him near me suddenly. Maybe it was the blood, the bond we had somehow developed, the fact that he was the only person on Earth I could touch without seeing images of their life, maybe it was because I couldn't read his thoughts. I don't know, all I do know is that he was my anchor, I had gone from barely knowing him, being terrified of him to being terrified of ever being apart from him in the space of a few months. I felt more strongly for him than I can ever remember feeling towards anyone in my life and it was a thought that scared me on its own, without the added knowledge that the person I was relying on this much and feeling this way about was a vampire! A deadly, blood sucking, super speedy… well you get the picture.

"Hey Soraya," I look up from my daydreaming about Eric to see that the Vampires are all in their travel coffins, ah so I hadn't imagined the squeeze of my fingers then.

"Yes," I say as I look over to Sookie who is looking at me quizzically,

"You okay?" she asks now and I give her a small smile and nod my head at her but she knows I'm lying, "look, I won't look into your head, it's the deal I have with all my friends not to read them and I expect you to do the same for me," she says breaking off to see me nod earnestly at her. I hadn't read her thoughts since I had learnt to block them and I knew she knew that. "What I'm trying to say is that I want you to think of me as a friend Soraya, you can trust me and if you need to talk about anything ever then you can," she finishes and for a few minutes I just stare at her.

"You're a good friend you know Sookie," I smile after a while and she giggles and blushes a little.

"So what's troubling you?" She asks and I sigh a little bit glancing at my hands.

"It's just… well, I know that Eric likes me… he does things that make me feel special, and I spoke to Godric about it, but… well he never, when we're around others…" I trail off not sure how to finish.

"He doesn't show much affection," she says and I look up at her before swallowing thickly,

"You've noticed then, I… I just, I'm scared that what I feel for him is so much stronger than he could ever feel for me," I say and she leans over to take hold of my hand and offer me some comfort.

"Soraya," she says quietly, "I haven't known Eric for long but I know what I see, he loves you, he may not be brilliant at the whole public thing but I am pretty sure he would do anything for you," she says.

"Thanks," I mutter,

"Hey, why don't we go out for dinner when we get back, to celebrate surviving such a ridiculous and crazy few days," she suggests and I grin a little at her,

"Sounds great to me," I smile and she does too.

Before long we are back at home and Eric's day man has made sure that the coffins have been transported safely to Eric's house, refusing to let Sookie or I come too much to our disappointment, partly because we wanted to see what the place looks like and partly because we wanted to be sure they were really safe. I spend the rest of the afternoon getting ready for my dinner date with Sookie, I have to say I'm actually really looking forward to it, it's been ages since I had a girls night out. Once I am ready and waiting for her to arrive and pick me up I hear a noise outside and assuming it is her I grab my stuff and rush out of the door. Pain and blackness greet me.

Coming to I am aware of being in a very small enclosed space and freak out immediately. What the bloody hell was wrong with me? Why did I suddenly forget everything I had learnt? I silently assess my injuries before moving or opening my eyes and put out the feelers with my brain for who is around me. I had a pretty sore head, so I'm guessing whoever it was hit me and knocked me out, other than that though I couldn't feel too much pain which was good, now to see who was with me. I concentrate without opening my eyes on putting the feelers out, there are two people their but they're not human. It's weird like I can't get a proper reading on them, its all muddled emotions and really messed up ones at that. Opening my eyes I realise very quickly that I am in the boot of a car and that the car was slowing down, pulling over to the side of the road and eventually stopping.

I can hear shouting, a scuffle and then the car is moving again and there is a vampire in it too, I can't read their thoughts but I can read the voids they leave, like empty spaces, Sookie had taught me how and now I was glad I had taken the time to. I didn't know what was happening as I work at trying to open the boot when things go very wrong. There is shouting and screaming from the car, they had underestimated the vamp then, I think to myself wryly. Before I can think or say anything else though I am being catapulted around the space of the boot as the car span through the air until it hit a tree or something and everything came to a jarring halt as the boot finally popped open and I was thrown halfway out groaning in pain. So much for being relatively uninjured, I whimper in pain again as I try to move but I can't, just flopping back down uselessly.

"Soraya," the voice is full of surprise and concern and forcing my head around I look up to see Bill crouching by my side, half naked and covered in blood.

"Bill," I gasp back, biting back a yelp of pain as he pulls me up and begins to carry me through the forest moving as fast as he can.

"We must be quick, what the hell are you doing here?" he asks and I laugh at the ridiculousness of the question, as if I had a choice in the matter.

"Got kidnapped," I say, speaking much more was out of the question as it was too painful.

"Mr Compton, Miss Evans, why the rush?" a cold and deadly voice says and Bill freezes releasing me from his arms and sending me to the ground painfully quickly forcing a small cry of pain from me despite my best efforts.

"I was on my way to you with her," Bill says immediately and I almost stop breathing as he says this, not knowing what is going on.

"Of course you were, so she can really…?" he trails off and I am still gaping between them trying to work out what is going on when Bill answers.

"Eric told you of her gifts, he did not lie," it is then that I do stop breathing. My entire world feels like it is crashing around me, the vampire stands before us and signals several of his minions to come forward and take me and I let them. I couldn't understand what was happening.

"As long as she proves as useful as you've said then I'll hold up my end of the deal," the vampire says calmly and Bill looks at me for a second before turning back to him.

"Like I said, Eric didn't lie," he says and my heart shatters. I had been sold out, I had literally been sold to some terrifying, strange vampire. In that moment I felt smaller and lower than I ever had and I almost wished that I had just died in that car.


	10. Chapter 10

I stay silent as I am taken to a huge house, there is no chance of escape anyway, I am surrounded by both vampires and… I don't know what they are, just that they're supernatural and very unstable. Especially the woman, she was stone cold crazy, I didn't need to be a telepath to know that, she was so twitchy and her eyes were mad.

"Welcome to your new home Miss Evans," the vampire says and I try not to shudder too hard as I look up at the imposing building.

"What do you want with me?" I ask quietly, proud that I could keep my voice steady despite the pain and desperation I felt.

"Oh it's quite simple really, I want to hold the upper hand, you, my dear can give me that," he replies and we fall silent again until we are in a large living room and I am being forced to sit on the huge red sofa. The whole place is gaudy and over done.

"Ah, Mr Northman," my head snaps up as I hear Eric's name and I see him standing in the doorway looking as calm as ever and it makes me… unfeasibly angry that he can look so unperturbed by this.

"Let Soraya go," is all he says and it is enough to life my heart a little, maybe he hadn't betrayed me after all.

"I was just about to offer her some of my blood to heal her," the vampire says and Eric growls audibly,

"She is mine," he virtually spits and the tension rises so much that I shrink back in fear, feeling the soreness in my back as I do so, and my head.

"Russell, come let him have his time with her," another vampire says and I look up as a young looking dark skinned man steps forward.

"Forgive me, this is Talbot, he is my… everything," the one called Russell purrs and then they are both gone and I am alone with Eric.

"Soraya," he whispers as he vamp speeds over to me.

"You… you," I don't have it in me to accuse him of anything because he was here, and that meant he was going to get me out, right?

"Drink," he says pushing his wrist to my mouth and I try to move away a little but he forces me to drink and I can feel the healing happening as drowsiness washes over me. I can hear him saying something but I can't work it out, his voice is distant and I can't bring myself back into focus until Russell is back in the room and Eric is moving away from me. I grab at his hand suddenly and he glances back at me his fingers tightening a tiny bit before he is gone and I am alone on the sofa as he stand facing Russell.

"Time you were on your way," Russell says and I stand up, my tiredness forgotten in my eagerness to get out of this place, "not you Miss Evans, you're staying," he says with an evil smirk.

"What… but, I… Eric what's going on?" I stutter not knowing what was happening, a terrible sinking feeling in my gut.

"You haven't told her about our little deal," Russell laughs and my legs give way sending me back to the sofa at this.

"Goodbye," is all Eric says and then he is gone and my world has shattered.

I'm not sure how long I've been here, I don't really care to be honest, I have nothing left anyway. No one would come for me because I didn't have anyone. Eric had betrayed me and so had Bill. Sookie wouldn't know because she would believe what Bill told her. Goodric… well he must know because he is Eric's sire, what I couldn't work out was why they had let this happen when they were supposed to care. I must have been so stupid to allow myself to think that anyone could care.

"Why so sad little one?" the crazy woman says as she enters my room with a tray of food and I don't even glance up at her. This was routine now too, they brought me food during the day and I refused to eat then when the vampires would wake and would force me to eat. For the rest of the night they would force me to touch their hands and relay the visions I had. I lied. Of course I lied, especially when I saw their deaths and saw Eric and Bill and Sookie in them, they may hate me but I still loved them enough to protect them. Even so watching and then lying about the visions I see of a five thousand year old vampire is enough to exhaust me physically and mentally and it leaves my barriers down. Because of this I know that the supernatural beings here, the crazy woman and the others, they're were wolves and they are addicted to vampire blood, which Russell provides them with in order to keep them obedient.

I was completely alone and I had never felt so… broken, so dead inside, I wanted it to end. I just wanted it to be over.

"Soraya," the voice is soft and feminine and I glance up as something about it is slightly familiar, I back up a little as the doorhandles rattles, fear filling me as it does every time someone opens the door, despite myself. It seems that despite the fact that I wanted the pain and the heartache to end I apparently didn't want to die.

"Sookie?" I say in wonder as she appears in the doorway, "is it really you?" I ask, my voice thick with emotion.

"I'm here Soraya, I'm going to get you out of here," she says hurriedly as she helps me stand and begins to half drag me out of the room I have been locked in for… who knows how long.

"What's going on?" I ask as we emerge into sunlight so bright it almost blinds me and I realise for the first time that I had been kept in the dark since I had arrived, in a light tight room until night and then the living room. I had never even been out of the house.

"We've come to get you," Sookie repeats and for a brief second my heart leaps as I think of Eric, until I remember he didn't care, plus it was bright daylight.

"Who's we?" I ask as we move across the lawn as quickly and quietly as possible but before she can answer a low male voice interrupts us.

"Sookie, over here," I look up and see a very handsome man standing by a large truck, he was tall and broad with shaggy dark brown hair and piercing green eyes. As we get closer I suddenly realise that there is something unusual about him and reach out my extra sense before stifling a whimper of fear and stepping back quickly.

"Sookie… he… he's a were," I stutter, forgetting for a second that she was the one who taught me about finding other supernatural's with our 'gift' and so logically she already knew.

"I know Soraya, it's okay why are you so scared?" she asks stepping towards me but a growl behind me makes me wheel around a yelp of panic escaping me as the crazy woman and two men walk towards us.

"Debbie?" the man with Sookie asks in shock and… was there a hint of pain in his voice too.

"Quick come on," Sookie yells and then everything erupts so quickly that I barely follow it. The were's all transform as they attack and Sookie and I try our best to get out of the way as quickly as possible. The wind is knocked out of me as I am flung to the side when trying to open the truck door but eventually get back to my feet, backing against the side of the truck as two of the wolves stalk towards me, the third being occupied by the man with Sookie. "Soraya," Sookie screams as one of the leaps towards me and I throw my hands up waiting for the hit, only it doesn't come. Slowly, I put my hands down again and I see that the two wolves that had attacked me were laying unconscious some feet away rapidly turning back into their human forms, a large tree trunk next to them.

"How did you do that?" the man, who was now human again too, asks in slight awe as I stare in shock at the two of them, did I…? No, no way could I, what the hell was happening to me?

"Soraya, did you… did you know that you could do that?" Sookie asks gently as she approaches me and I can feel panic welling inside me and all I wanted was to be close to Eric and I knew that he could feel my fear, my panic. He had felt everything I had, in my darker moments it had given me solace to know that he felt the pain just as strongly as I did.

"I…"

"Come on we have to get out of here now," the man yells almost throwing us towards the truck and before I know it we are driving down the highway back towards Bon Temps.

"Where are we going?" I ask drowsily, I hadn't slept properly since the night it happened, every time I did fall asleep pain, fear and betrayal overwhelm me and force me awake again.

"Back to mine," Sookie says turning to me and continuing before I can say anything, "you need rest and you need to be safe, I can keep you safe there and Alcide can guard both of us," she says and I sigh as I turn towards the man who I'm guessing is Alcide driving the truck.

"You knew her?" I ask and he nods shortly, "why aren't you on their side?" I ask pushing for information on whether I can trust him or not.

"I know you don't trust him yet, just wait until we get home, you can read everything then, we can sort this out," Sookie says and I sigh, knowing that there isn't any point in arguing.


End file.
